Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'He did not appear to you'?" Then the Father said to him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he replied. The Father said, "Throw it on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. Then the Father said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. "This," said the Father, "is so that they may believe that I have appeared to you."What's in your hand? In Moses' hand it was nothing more than a staff, but when he opened his hand to let it go the Father used it to display his greatness. In the disciples hands there were a few loaves of bread, but when they opened their hands, the Father used them to display his greatness. Two copper coins in the hands of a widow wouldn't buy much, but when she opened her hands to the Father, those coins became the greatest of all the offerings. There is no end the the examples of his greatness; he uses us and works through what little we have if we can only open our hearts and let it go!
Why we are grateful this week:
1) On Tuesday we received a phone call from the hospital informing us that Jessie's most recent tests came back negative, which ironically, is positive!
2) This was an odd week. Many of the students spent the time packing and leaving for the winter holiday. At this point most of the students have left and even though we live in a city that lists it's population near 4 million, our campus is a virtual ghost town. So we spent a lot of time together as a team, eating meals together, watching downloaded football games, and enjoying each other's best Brian Regan impressions.
3) My parent's have finalized their travel plans! They will arrive in Beijing on February 1st, and leave on February 14th. They will be here for Jessie's birthday (the 5th), Chinese Lantern Festival (the 9th), and Valentine's Day!
4) On Thursday we visited the Philip Hayden Foundation with the Corder's. Wil could not come because he was ill, but it was a good day regardless. Courtney, Lee, Paula, and Laura Corder arrived in Langfang, we ate lunch with a few students, and than spent the afternoon at the PHF.
Please continue to “think” about us:
1) We leave for Beijing tomorrow, and then we head to Shenzhen, which is near Hong Kong, on Tuesday for our 7 day conference. We will return to Langfang by January 31st at the latest.
2) As I mentioned earlier, my parents arrive on February 1st. We will be traveling with them for a week in the Beijing area and then in Guilin for about a week. In other words, the next four weeks will be a hectic, but they should be amazing.
3) Within the next week, we should have a good idea of where we will be next year. It might be difficult for us to post anything consistently for the next month, but we will post this information as soon as we can.
4) Please continue to remember Jessie, and our unborn child. She is still doing great! Other than a few headaches and some weariness, there has been nothing but good news concerning our pregnancy.
Following His Blessing,
Brad
